There Are Raised Areas On The Left And Front Of

Brief Answer:
Do you have a picture?

Detailed Answer:
Hello, I'm Dr. Branch, thanks for using Ask a Doctor. There are many possibilities for the symptoms you are describing, including inflamed taste buds, lichen planus, Behcet's disease, and much less likely some sort of malignancy affecting the tongue. It would very much help if you were able to send a picture of your tongue, so that I can see what the raised areas look like, and whether they are pigmented or ulcerated at all. Also, how long have you had this for? Do you smoke or use any medications regularly? Any other medical conditions?

I look forward to your response and hopefully will be able to help you more then.

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Brief Answer:
Nystatin solution

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for sending those.

So, I have a few thoughts. On the side of your tongue it looks like there is inflammation of the tongue (stomatitis) and, if I'm seeing the picture right, there appears to be an ulcer there. The tongue also appears to be more white than normal, so especially if there were other white lesions in your mouth, or you had diabetes or had recently been on antibiotics, I would suspect oral thrush (caused by a fungal infection), which can also make the stomatitis worse.

The treatment for thrush is a nystatin solution that you swish and swallow. Another factor that can cause the stomatitis could be vitamin deficiencies, especially vitamin B12. Usually these last from several days to a few weeks, sometimes several weeks, and can be treated with topical steroids that are made specially for the mouth, such as Orabase. Good dental hygiene with brushing and mouthwash are also important.

You will likely need to see a doctor to get a prescription for the nystatin if you do have thrush, so I would suggest seeing your doctor to confirm this diagnosis and get the treatment if you have it.

Those are my thoughts, I hope they help, please let me know if you have any other questions about any of that and I would be glad to answer them.

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Brief Answer:
See below

Detailed Answer:
That's interesting, I didn't mention it because it is more rare, but with a dry mouth I would think about Sjogren's syndrome. It is an autoimmune disease that has many different symptoms, including dry eyes, dry mouth (which can sometimes lead to thrush), salivary gland swelling, irregular or heavy periods, and recurrent sinusitis or nasal congestion. If you have any more of those symptoms it would raise the suspicion, but if just the dry mouth is severe and you also have dry eyes, I would talk to your doctor about doing an antibody test to check for this.

For this disease, treatment depends on the severity of the symptoms. For dry mouth, artificial saliva is sometimes used, along with medications that work to increase salivary secretions. If you were diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, your doctor could discuss the appropriate treatments based on your symptoms.

Thanks for the reply, if you can let me if you have any of the above symptoms or any other symptoms, I would be happy to discuss it further with you.

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Brief Answer:
Thank you

Detailed Answer:
I appreciate that, thank you very much. I hope you can get a clear diagnosis and get started on treatment that will help you feel better soon.

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